The sub-tropical climate, wide open vistas, miles and miles of beaches and nature trails makes Naples an ideal place for those who love the outdoors. Most properties have outdoor space, decks, pools, lanais or just big gardens and a lot is made of them.

Some homeowners make this outside space and climate work a little more for them. In Naples kitchens don’t have to be just inside the home. They can be outside too. An outside kitchen adorns many a garden in our little county and with good reason!

If you’re planning on building an outdoor kitchen there are a few things you need to consider. A lot depends on what space you have available. You don’t want to take up too much outdoor space that you lose the use of it, neither do you want the kitchen too small to enjoy. After the space, comes the money. The budget can make or break any project around the home and this is no exception. An outside kitchen can be anything from a portable barbeque and some cheap patio furniture to a complete brick or wood built kitchen with all the amenities of any other kitchen. What you will end up with depends on how much you have to spend.

The placement needs to be near existing entrances to your home, ideally straight into the existing kitchen. This will make moving things around much easier, especially food. The last thing you want to be doing is weaving through guests with plates of uncooked food.

A cheaper option can be a square made up of cinder blocks and piled up with a few planks of wood to make a useable surface with space for a barbeque and some chairs. A higher end version might have integrated cooking stations, electricity and refrigerators and bars. There is no right and wrong way to doing this, just design something that fulfils both your needs and budget.

Sketch it out on paper first using scaled drawings. This will help when it comes to building it, or aid the contractor when they do it for you. Don’t forget to add notes about where utilities will be fitted, pipes and socket points etc.

Depending on your level of expertise it may be quicker and cheaper to hire a professional to design and do the job. While it can be tackled by a skilled enthusiast, a lot of time and dedication is needed to see the project through.

There is undoubtedly going to be changes to the landscaping of your garden when making changes like this. Unless you are lucky enough to have unused space right outside your kitchen, you will need to landscape the remaining garden to allow the kitchen to fit. Again, something an enthusiast can do quite easily, but it may pay to employ a professional landscaper to take care of for you.

How much you do yourself depends on how much you have to spend and your skills. Don’t be put off by a seemingly extensive piece of work. It can be broken down into little ones just like any other.